“Reading Blind” by Margaret Atwood Essay

1. In her commentary nurture Blind, Margargont Atwood gives her opinions on factors that withdraw a light story good. She writes that a good story has to have a contribution that moves not only across pages but also through time. Most citizenry are first introduced to stories at a young age by the scandalous gossips and family secrets that children overhear their m more or less others discussing in the kitchen, or the oral tales with talking donkeys and definite endings that their grandmother recites to them. All these stories come by voice and they influence the means each and e precise psyche expects from or brings to stories. According to Atwood, a good story has, in more ways, qualities that are similar to those that children want in the tales they are told or overhear. For a story to be successful, it needfully to have elements of mystery, proper buildup, unexpected twists, and an impeccable smell of timing. It also has to effectively hold the attention of the reade rs, and gives them a sense of urgency and excitement in the narration.Toni Cade Bambaras short story The Lesson is one that effectively embodies the voice that Margaret Atwood mentions in her essay. This short story is told through the voice of the main charactera girl from the ghetto named Sylvia. Sylvias narration of the events in this story is as raw and as true to lifespan as whatsoever fiction can be. In Reading Blind, Atwood quotes from Raymond Chandler All linguistic process begins with speech, and the speech of common men at that. The voice in The Lesson precisely portraits the speech of a black girl living in the lamentable urban area with article of faiths that lack auxiliary or conjugations, and by doing so, reveals the reality like it truly is. In order to closely picture the setting in her story, Bambara has sacrificed the proper and boring ways of the English language and stay faithful to the speech and voices of the people whose stories she depicts.Only with this unmasked honesty can Bambara create a short story that is so appealing and speaks powerfully to the readers. Intentionally or not, Bambaras story The Lesson closely observes Margaret Atwoods qualities of a good story and therefore, it is one that captures the attention of the readers and maintains their interest until the end. 2. In her essay Writing go around Stories, Flannery OConnor stresses the importance of heart in a short story. It is, she writes, what keeps a short story from beingness short. She goes on further to explain that the meaning drawn from a story are from experiences, and by qualification statements close the meaning, a person can experience it even more deeply. She uses her own Good res publica People to demonstrate this point. The plot of this story, a bible sales patch stealing the wooden leg of a treasonable lady who tries to seduce him, can simply be nothing more than a low joke. However, as the meaning of the wooden leg is explored, and the act of s tealing the leg is looked into further, it is revealed that this story deals with much deeper issues.In OConnors opinion, no formula, technique, or theory can really provide guidance for a story. In order to learn to write a story, a person must first write one, consequently try to discover what he has done. She also discusses the two qualities of fiction the sense of mystery and the sense of manners. She stresses that manners hoard from the surrounding environments can provide insights into a work of fiction, and also the importance in the depth of spirit in the characters. In Eudora Weltys short story Why I buy the farm at the P.O., the former explores the problems buried deep beneath the surface sibling rivalry of a Southern family. Both infantthe overlooked older daughterand Stella-Rondothe beloved younger onehas troubled stories that prevent them from committing themselves to a dispassionate family life. A shallow reader might summarize the plot of the story in one sent ence A woman is angry at the return of her sisterStellawhen her family turns from her to embrace Stella and her childShirley T. and after a while she leaves home and leaves at the Post Office, making it an unsophisticated and even somewhat comical drama.However, as the readers ponders more about the meanings lying deep under each characters actions their argument about the nature of Shirley T.s adoption, the competition for attention of the elderly in the family, and most important of all, the act of disruption away of Sister. When the readers have got past that initial stage of merely comprehending the story, they can start unraveling its hidden meaning and draw their own conclusion and make their own statements about these meanings. Why I Live at the P.O. is also a story that draws plentifully from the Southern culture of Mississippi from which the author is from. Welty utilizes her knowledge of the people and environment around her to create characters that are realistic while a t the same time mystifying, and thus achieves success in her craft. 3. In his essay Looking for Raymond stonecutter, A. O. Scott makes a statement saying that More lots than not, the big talkers in Carvers stories are in possession of a degree of partition immunity People who carry on as if they know what they are talking about are regarded with suspicion.Carvers greatest sympathy is reserved for those characters who struggle to use language to make sense of things, but who begetter in the start out. By studying Carvers two short stories duomo and What We talk of the town about When We Talk about Love, the readers will soon come to the conclusion that this statement is very true indeed. The very first line of What We Talk about When We Talk about Love reads My maven Mel McGinnis was talking. Mel McGinnis is a cardiologist, and sometimes that gives him the right. It is made clear that Mel is one of the people of the first group, the ones who talk and flaunt their big busines sman to talk in front of other people. Being a cardiologist might have assumption Mel a position superior to his friends, but that fact still does not justify the fact that he talks on. His married womanTerridoes not seem as enthusiastic to discuss the matter of love as he did, however. In the whole conversation, the only idea she is insistent about is the fact that Edher ex-loverloves her.The dialogues in this story are dominated by Mel, who constantly denies this information. For Mela character that carries on as if he knows what he is talking about, Carvers approach for him has not been generous. He describes them with a filter that exposes the flaws and crack in their personalities. Mel has a medical degree, and also a past in the seminary. He is certain that the issue of his knowledge gives him the authority to talk and he utilizes that power with no reluctance. He has a set of ideology of what love should be, and expects that only things that closely follow his criteria ca n be called love. He deems the actions of Terris ex- husband as not only violent and threatening, which they are, but also not love, which they can be. His prejudice on life and love makes him appear less reliable to the readers than the other characters, and therefore, he is viewed with suspicion. The narrator in Cathedral, on the other hand, falls into the second category of characters.Even from the beginning of the story, he has always had little to say. He struggles to make a connection in communication with the blind friend of his wife, but does so unsuccessfully and with a lot of troubles. The barrier between him and the blind man is formed not only by their unfitness to reach each other, but also because of the superior position he has put himself above his wifes friend. Throughout the whole story, the readers witness his efforts to be relevant to the guest and his wife as puff up but he fails to do so. His attempts to communicate with the other characters fall flat, because he is too caught up in his own world. He does not want a person from the outside to come in and obstruct the life he is living, much less a man who knows his wife all too well. He is reluctant and uncertain of this visit and the effects it will have on his life and that is what causes him in the attempt to make sense of things.The empathy that Carver reserves for the narrator in Cathedral can be seen throughout the whole story. Even with his cynical but ignorant outlook in life, the narrator still possesses some qualities that are admirable to the readers. This character is a man who has the typical characteristics of an alpha-male. He is protective of his wife, and becomes jealous of some other man who has gotten close to her. His inability to connect with Robertthe blind manultimately boils down to the competition for his wifes compassion, and even though his thinking is flawed, his desire to keep his wife evokes empathy in the readers. Any person would have felt the same jealo usy towards another one who can potentially take what are theirs, and the narrators failure to communicate with the friend of his wife, no matter how pathetic, is understood by a universal audience and Raymond Carver himself.The narrator in Cathedral and Mel in What We Talk about When We Talk about Love are two types of characters created by Raymond Carver. Mel is a man who can talk a lot about many things, particularly love he comes across as a man who is judgmental and closed-minded. The other one, the narrator, while having his own struggles with jealousy and compassion, portraits a more universal and understandable good-natured of person, and therefore reserves more empathy from the readers and the author himself. By studying these two characters, it can be conclude that A. O. Scotts observation that the big talkers are in possession of a degree of class privilege People who carry on as if they know what they are talking about are regarded with suspicion. Carvers greatest empa thy is reserved for those characters who struggle to use language to make sense of things, but who founder in the attempt is a true and accurate statement.Works CitedAtwood, Margaret. Reading Blind. The layer and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1408-11. Bambara, Toni Cade.The Lesson. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 71-6. Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 168-78. Carver, Raymond. What We Talk about When We Talk about Love. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 187-95. OConnor, Flannery. Writing Short Stories. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1619-24. Scott, A. O. Looking for Raymond Carver. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1595-9. Welty, Eudora. Why I Live at the P.O. The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charte rs. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 1999. 1317-26.